


Out With the Old

by DemonDalekDetective



Series: NaNoWriMo [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: After Angels Take Manhattan, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 01:01:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonDalekDetective/pseuds/DemonDalekDetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after Angels Take Manhattan but before the Snowmen. The doctor is upset about Amy and Rory, and decides to change the TARDIS interior. While reading, he runs into someone with a familiar voice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out With the Old

The doctor patted the TARDIS console. He loved his TARDIS more than he could ever say, and he missed being able to talk to her and have her reply. It was only for a little while, but he learned so much about her that he never knew before. It was a good distraction, thinking about her, but it wasn’t good enough.  
His thoughts went back to Amy and Rory, the great friends that he lost. He couldn’t save them, and Amy hadn’t even wanted to be saved. When she left, he broke down, but River - their own daughter - had stared at it long enough for them to escape. Now all of his tears were gone, and he could just think. So he thought.  
He thought of all of the lives that he had ruined, the ones that he had called his friends. Amy, Rory, Donna, Martha, Rose, and all of the other people he had met. Death did follow him everywhere, and suddenly, when he looked around the console room, He didn’t feel cheerful at the bright colours and usually fun console room. He just remembered the Ponds and everything they had done in there together.  
He went to the Architectural Reconfiguration room. Inside was what looked almost like a willow tree with hanging wires and lights. This was the only room in the TARDIS that never changed, because It changed everything itself. It was made of living metal (not to be confused with Autons that were living plastic), and the Doctor could hear it humming, just as he had once told Rose he could feel the Earth moving.  
Touching one of the lights that hung from one of it’s “branches”, the humming grew a bit louder and changed pitch. He knew just which lights to touch, where to touch them, and how long to keep contact to get what he wanted. He just told the TARDIS that he wanted to change the interior and let her search through his mind for what he was thinking of for the new design. It would be much more plain than what he had been traveling in, and that was fine with him. Anything to get his mind off the Ponds.  
This is how he ended up grabbing a book and heading out of the TARDIS to read somewhere. The TARDIS would need some time to change the interior, and he needed to stay out of there while she was working on it. If he went to the park though, he was reminded of them, so he went to sit on a bench in the middle of the city on a busy road. He was part way through a book that he wasn’t really into, when he heard a voice ask “Can I sit here?”  
He nodded and moved over a bit to make more room, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Amy’s glasses. He tried to think of anything else, so he thought of the girl who just sat down. He looked at her briefly. She had brown hair that went a little past her shoulders, brown eyes, and a nice smile. He had thought there was a spark of recognition when she spoke, but looking at her he was sure that they had never met.  
Going back to his book before it could seem like he was staring, The Doctor shook the thought that they had ever met. He made it in several more chapters, being an incredibly fast reader when she spoke again. “You know you’re reading out loud right?” The Doctor ignored the stab of familiarity and snapped his book shut.  
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s an old habit.” He didn’t open the book again, the comment about reading out loud making him think of Amy again.   
“Doctor, you’re doing it again.” She said with a warning tone.  
“I’m reading!” he replied.  
“Yes, out loud!” She said. It was a habit of his to read out loud and Amy didn’t appreciate it when she was also trying to read.  
He allowed himself to think about everyone, if only for a minute, and soon he was crying again, silently. It did not go unnoticed to the girl on the bench next to him. “Don’t cry. I know how it is, I can tell you’ve lost people, and I’ve lost people too. But don’t allow their loss to mean your loss too. Is that what they would want?” She didn’t touch him, and the Doctor was glad for that.   
“Yeah.” He said, trying to regain his normal voice. “I suppose not. But I’ve just lost them all, and there was nothing I could do to save them. And she chose Rory, so I know she’s happy, but she’s gone forever now, I’ll never see her again.” None of this could be making much sense to the woman, but she was talking as though it did make sense.  
His sonic screwdriver made a little noise in his jacket and he pulled it out to look at it. The TARDIS was done redecorating and he could go back in again. “What’s that?” the girl asked, pointing at the sonic.  
“Nothing.” he said, though it almost physically pained him to not explain something to a willing listener. He didn’t want anyone else dragged into his life, not yet. “I have to go, but it was nice talking... and thanks.” He said rather awkwardly as he stood up and tucked the book he had brought into one of the inside pockets of his jacket.  
Back inside the TARDIS, he explored the new interior starting with the console room. It was much more plain than the last one, but elegant and sleek. As he explored the other rooms, he became rather fond of the new design. He moved the TARDIS to the Victorian era and parked her on a cloud with a special staircase. She didn’t want anyone to be able to get up there except himself.  
So he read inside the TARDIS and went out very little, never engaging in anything like the adventures he used to have, and read. He hardly ever talked to anyone, certainly never invited them to travel with him, until he saw someone familiar near a snowman that had just appeared.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm writing this for NaNoWriMo. I'm doing one fic a day (starting today) and they have to be at least 1000 words long. This is my first one, and also my first fic for Doctor Who. Let me know what you think, because I really want some feedback on my writing.


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